Press

English National Opera (ENO) is the UK’s leading producer of world-class opera, sung in English. Working with the very best talent from across the arts and creative industries, we produce highly theatrical productions that push the boundaries of what opera can be. We champion British and British-trained talent by providing development programmes for singers, composers and conductors, placing them at the heart of our performances. Our productions are seen by audiences across Europe, North America and Australia thanks to partnerships with the world’s most celebrated opera houses. Though all our activities we aim to make our work enjoyable, accessible and affordable for as many people as possible.

PRESS TICKETS

We welcome requests for press tickets from critics and journalists. If you’d like to apply for press tickets, please send an email to presstickets@eno.org, stating which publication you write for and which performance you would like to attend. We regret that we cannot fulfil all requests.

PRESS IMAGES

We are currently developing an online press gallery. In the meantime, if you’d like images of an ENO production, please contact mediaenquiries@eno.org.

If you are a photographer, and would like to attend a dress rehearsal photocall, please contact mediaenquiries@eno.org

BIOGRAPHIES

Please click below for the most up-to-date biographies of our senior staff. Please contact mediaenquiries@eno.org if you would like further information or images. Please do not amend these biographies without first emailing the ENO Press Office.

02 Feb, 2015 00:00
Today (Thursday 12 February), Arts Council England have confirmed that English National Opera will receive £30.5m over two years as part of a special funding arrangement. This figure represents the first two years of funding requested by ENO in its original NPO application.

01 Jan, 2015 00:00
English National Opera, has announced today that its chairman, Martyn Rose, intends to step down from his role on 15 February 2015. Dr Harry Brunjes, currently serving as a non-executive trustee at ENO, will become acting chairman from 15 February 2015.

01 Jan, 2015 00:00
Peter Sellars returns to English National Opera following his critically-acclaimed production of John Adams’s The Gospel According To The Other Mary to direct Purcell’s The Indian Queen.

01 Jan, 2015 00:00
ENO Music Director Edward Gardner will lead the “world-class” ENO Orchestra and Chorus (WhatsOnStage) alongside an outstanding cast in Wagner’s comic masterpiece The Mastersingers of Nuremberg. Known for championing British and British trained talent, ENO will field a predominantly British cast led by one of ENO’s major discoveries of recent years, Iain Paterson, making his role debut as Hans Sachs.

12 Dec, 2014 00:00
Elizabeth Zharoff will make her UK debut as Violetta in this first revival of Peter Konwitschny’s acclaimed production of La traviata. Described by The Guardian as a ‘totally convincing piece of music theatre’, this production was nominated for the Olivier Award for Best New Opera production in 2013.

11 Nov, 2014 00:00
English National Opera is delighted to present The Way Back Home, ENO’s first opera for children in a new co-production at the Young Vic this Christmas. Based upon the much loved children’s author Oliver Jeffers’s picture book of the same name, young composer Joanna Lee teams up with award winning theatre director Katie Mitchell and designer Vicki Mortimer to bring this charming story to life.

11 Nov, 2014 00:00
Peter Sellars returns to English National Opera to direct the world staged premiere of John Adams’s The Gospel According To The Other Mary as part of his role as the Director-in-Residence of the 14/15 season. Commissioned in 2012 by Gustavo Dudamel and the LA Philharmonic, The Other Mary has been performed in concert around the world, including at the Barbican in March 2013 to great critical acclaim.

10 Oct, 2014 00:00
Opera’s greatest love story will return to ENO’s London Coliseum this winter in Jonathan Miller’s stunning production, weaving together true love with heartbreak in this enduring and devastating story. Angel Blue, who made her ‘knockout ENO debut’ (Metro) as Musetta in the 2013 performances of this production, will transition to the role of Mimì for the first time.

10 Oct, 2014 00:00
Fiona Shaw will return to the London Coliseum to direct the first revival of her production of The Marriage of Figaro, described as ‘for sheer fun… the best Figaro you will ever see’ by the Sunday Express. Conducted by Jaime Martín, this production will star ENO Harewood Artist Mary Bevan and baritone David Stout making their role debuts as Susanna and Figaro.

10 Oct, 2014 00:00
Celebrated opera director Richard Jones returns to ENO to direct the first of two productions this season. This new production of Puccini’s ‘American’ opera will be ENO’s first for 50 years with the great British soprano Susan Bullock making her stage debut in the title role. Leading the ENO orchestra and all-male chorus, experienced opera conductor Keri-Lynn Wilson makes her British debut.

09 Sep, 2014 00:00
Nicholas Hytner’s critically-acclaimed 1985 production of Xerxes, the oldest production in ENO’s repertoire, returns this season with an all-British cast reinforcing ENO’s “unrivalled reputation as the world’s leading house for Handel” (The Sunday Times).

05 May, 2014 00:00
ENO are delighted to be presenting a celebration of Lord Harewood’s life told through music, which will be conducted by Mark Elder, Edward Gardner and Paul Daniel. This exciting event will feature the Harewood Artists plus star guest artists, including John Tomlinson, Lesley Garrett and Christopher Purves. A rich and diverse programme will include music by Britten, Wagner and Verdi.

05 May, 2014 00:00
English National Opera presents a new production of Mozart’s dark comic masterpiece Così fan tutte, directed by Artistic Director of Improbable Phelim McDermott. Roughly translated as ‘Women are like that’, Così fan tutte tells the story of a bet between two young men with a philosopher about the fidelity of their fiancées. Deception, disguise, deceit and desire are played out in a world where make-believe and reality are fantastically blurred in Improbable’s fresh new take on the opera.

04 Apr, 2014 00:00
The Whitechapel Gallery and English National Opera collaborate for the first time on a ground-breaking presentation of the work of leading international artist Matthew Barney, showing his latest and best-known works over one weekend.

03 Mar, 2014 09:13
English National Opera gives world premiere of British composer Julian Anderson’s first opera, Thebans. This is the first of a series of new British operas to be premiered by ENO over the next two years, which will champion British talent to a global audience.

01 Jan, 2014 11:13
Building on ENO’s reputation as the undisputed ‘House of Handel’, Richard Jones directs a new production of Rodelinda, featuring a stellar British cast conducted by baroque specialist Christian Curnyn.

01 Jan, 2014 07:00
English National Opera (ENO) has today (23 January 2014) announced that its highly-acclaimed Music Director Edward Gardner will leave his role at the end of the 2014/15 season to take up his new appointment as Chief Conductor of the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra. He will be succeeded by Mark Wigglesworth, who takes up the ENO baton in September 2015.

12 Dec, 2013 09:00
English National Opera and AltiveMedia have today (Thursday 12 December) launched ENO Screen – a partnership to broadcast ENO’s unique theatrical productions to 300 cinemas across the UK and Ireland and selected cinemas worldwide, extending the opportunity to see the most innovative contemporary opera in the world to audiences around the world.

12 Dec, 2013 16:40
English National Opera presents a new production of Verdi’s tragic masterpiece Rigoletto, directed by Olivier award winner Christopher Alden with baritone Quinn Kelsey in the title role. Verdi’s tale of passion, revenge and sacrifice is a classic of the opera repertory featuring some of his most famous music, including the instantly recognisable aria ‘La donna è mobile’ (Women abandon us).

12 Dec, 2013 16:40
David Alden’s 2009 production of Benjamin Britten’s searing psychological drama Peter Grimes returns to English National Opera. Alden’s production was hailed as a “superb company achievement” in 2009 with “Stuart Skelton’s towering performance at its heart”, (The Guardian) reaffirming ENO as the world’s leading producer of Britten’s operas. This hotly anticipated revival reunites director David Alden with ENO Music Director Edward Gardner and Australian heldentenor Stuart Skelton in the title role.

10 Oct, 2013 17:20
ENO revives an iconic piece of contemporary opera, Philip Glass’s Satyagraha this November. This critically acclaimed production is by visionary director Phelim McDermott and designer Julian Crouch, co-founders of Improbable. Described by The Times as ‘a masterwork of theatrical intensity and integrity’, it broke box office records for contemporary opera on its UK premiere, making it the most popular contemporary work to be performed by ENO.

10 Oct, 2013 12:00
Opening on 7 November, Simon McBurney’s new production of The Magic Flute is a darkly funny, dramatic and highly visual interpretation of Mozart’s theatrical genius. In McBurney’s interpretation, music casts a visible as well as audible spell, with the orchestra on view alongside breathtaking cinematographic projections, re-imagining Mozart’s rites of passage fairytale.

09 Sep, 2013 14:56
Described by The Times as ‘one of the most deeply thoughtful and ravishingly beautiful re-creations of Puccini’s opera that you’re ever likely to see’ Anthony Minghella’s Madam Butterfly returns to ENO in October for its fifth revival. Italian conductor Gianluca Marciano makes his ENO debut conducting Dina Kuznetsova as the doomed Cio-Cio San and Timothy Richards as her cold-hearted lover B.F. Pinkerton.

08 Aug, 2013 14:56
Strauss’s popular operetta returns to English National Opera (ENO) after 20 years, in a new production by world-renowned opera director Christopher Alden. Over the last five seasons, Alden has produced many critically-acclaimed productions for ENO including Partenope (winner of 2009 Olivier Award for Best New Production), The Makropulos Case and A Midsummer Night’s Dream (winner of Russia’s esteemed Golden Mask Award for opera and theatre).

08 Aug, 2013 14:56
Acclaimed opera and theatre director Calixto Bieito returns to English National Opera (ENO) to direct a new production of Beethoven’s Fidelio. This universal tale of love and fidelity triumphing over injustice will be the first staging at ENO for 17 years.

08 Aug, 2013 14:56
Loretta Tomasi has today, Thursday 18 July 2013, announced that she will step down from her position of Chief Executive of English National Opera (ENO) at the end of 2013, after ten years with the company.

Editorial Filming Under News Access

All filming of ENO performances and rehearsals is undertaken in accordance with the relevant MU code of practice. ENO asks that all requests for filming are made where possible two days in advance to allow ENO sufficient time to notify the relevant parties.

The following networks are able to film ENO productions under the MU News Access agreement:

BBC

ITV

London News Network

Sky

Reuters Video News and London TH What's On

Any network that does not come under the above list must be referred by ENO to the MU for approval.

News items which include performances by ENO musicians may only be broadcast under the terms of the Code of Practice in the following:

Network news bulletins

Local news bulletins and round ups

Exclusively Arts and Music programmes and agreed listings programmes

Under News Access any of the above broadcasters are permitted to do the following film for up to one hour after which cameras must clearly not be recording.

The maximum transmission time of performances by musicians is:

One minute of such performance where the music is featured i.e. not background or otherwise incidental

One minute of such performances where the music is not featured (for example where the performance of the musicians is heard in the background of an interview or under a voice over)

In the event of the transmitted duration of the performance of musicians exceeding the transmission time limits specified above the Broadcaster will be liable for payment of appropriate fees.

Editorial Filming: Documentary and features

All requests for documentaries and features involving any filming must be sent in writing to Louise Wylie, Head of Communications, lwylie@eno.org